first and before her father she strongly dissembled the grief which pinched her very heart shewing so constant in apparence that you would have said this action of Philippin's was in different to her But when she was retired into her private Cabinet and this retreat without testimonies gave her liberty to recall her passion saying those words and using those actions which she ought neither to have done nor said if she had had but any reason left there wanted not much that her soul had not stollen from her in her abundance of tears and that the sobs and sighs had not stopped her breath I will not with a lazie pen fill the pages of this book with reciting the inutility of her complaints we must leave them to the divining of those souls outraged by feeling the like disgrace How many different projects rolled in her thoughts Sometime she would in a sute of her brothers go find out this perfidious Lord to grapple with him like a Fury revengetrix and to cover him with reproaches of his weakness and inconstancie But as she was of a great spirit the consideration of her honour held her within the bounds of modesty knowing well that such a habit would wrap her in an everlasting infamy But then shall she dye an obscure death not only deprived of enjoying her legitimate pretensions but also of revenge I assure you that between these two extremities her understanding was thrown into strange convulsions In this outrage she became invironed with so strong a melancholy that she would neither see any nor be seen of any if she could have separated herself from herself she would willingly have done it So she fell into a profound slumber forced by a thousand griefs nor thinking of ought but of displeasures which continually pelled her patience Sad specters did her soul affright With the black horrors of the night Which through the casements of her eyes Diffus'd a thousand jealousies So that the light being gone her sense did fail Hope did expire and her fear prevail A thousand thoughts of things transacted Of promises broke and kept distracted Her spirits so perplex'd with grief Th'admitted not the least relief Which like the 'larum of a Watch did keep Her mind in motion and debarr'd her sleep These crimes which from the horror of a black And clouded conscience all the senses rack Transcend those tortures which poor miscreants feel In setters chain'd or broken on the wheel Since crimes increase and make affliction higher Like heaped fewel on a flaming fire Frighted with dismal dreams she passeth ore The solitary night and doth deplore Her pitteous state so that her poor heart lyes Floting half-drown'd i' th' deluge of her eyes The sum of all her joyes being but to think Those joyes are shipwrack't and her soul must sink Thus the unfortunate Amazon tormenting herself without comfort nothing pleases her being so displeased with herself Nights are tedious to her having lost her accustomed repose and Day as unwelcome because it makes her see too cleerly her disaster This is not that Atalanta that destroyed by her valour the number of Bores in this our Thessaly The horror of the woods which heretofore were so pleasing while the eye of day looked favourably on her is now become most fearfull She troubles no more the dark solitary Forrests the assemblies of hunting are no more lightned with this star and that which most of all displeases is that every one spends their judgments and makes discourses according to their fancies of this her change of life and humour She hates the publike light but silence loves And lonely shades of solitary groves Her parents which knew the cause of grief yet having no remedy were much affected Valentine principally which saw the flowers fade in the face of this Virgin whom she loved so dearly was excessively tormented cursing the hour that ever she knew Philippin But Pyrrhe and Harman who knew that this strange manner of life gave occasion of talk to many men are touched with a more lively feeling Poor men if the thorns prick you being scarce shot forth how will you endure them when they become more hard and less corrigible she will be cause of your loss of life and honour But let us leave her desolate in her melancholy to see what is done in the City touching the marriage of Philippin There he is imbarqued by the commandment of his father in the research of Elise But how can we call it a research which is already agreed on by their friends Timoleon is agreed with Scevole who offers him a blank promising such a dowry as should quite disengage his house making his daughter his universal heir and putting her in possession of more then he could imagine Oraculons I dol who doth not adore Thy shrine and reverence the refulgent Oar He that said Liberty is a blessing he would not sell for all the good in the world is deceived in more then the half of the just price because in the world there are as many and more chains of gold then of iron For is it not gold which makes the servitude of idols against which the Apostle cries so loud Philippin goes to make experience who marries more to satisfie the covetous eyes of his father then for his own desires marries rather coffers and wealth then the person of a woman nor doth he go to this alliance but with one wing being there is nothing more displeasing then an affection ordained for interest and good of others Will being of a quality so free that commanded it is to put it in a swound Harsh law of that Authority which restrains And binds our dearest Liberty in chains What can we not defend our selves but must Submit to Tyrant-Duty though unjust 'T is sad yet teaches that we should obay Where Rigor and Severity bear sway So Timoleon judged it would very hard to draw such lively flames as the first by the beauty of this second makes Philippin take Elise as a sick man doth a medicine and as Laban gave Leah to Jacob without almost seeing her Not that she was unworthy to be considered not being so unpleasing but she might deserve the love of any but truly how she could be loved with the love of friendship I will not say but very hardly by that of love by a heart already enjoyed as was this of our young Courtiers He nevertheless sees her more satisfied with her vertue then amorous of her person and entertains her like a man whose affection is rather in his looks then in his heart It is a simple thing to make love by commandment in the end he enters like a fish into a net even as forced not having any will that the beginning should tie a knot of necessity which could not be broken but with the sharpness of death and with all the repentings in the world could not be dissolved during life for it is not in humane power to disjoyn those which the
son of his own gown as he had done before his eldest being now at the point to obtain his desire the dispositions of the parents of Elise gave him hope of a happy success his vertue and perseverance having won them Now Timoleon coming on these terms and offering to Scevole Philippin his son an alliance so great and high this of Andronico vanished like a star before the sun Andronico digested this bitterness with a patience which may be better praised then exprest He makes great complaints which the wind blows away Challenge Philippin he cannot for why the greatness and authority of Timoleon threw too much dust and powder before his eyes and it would have been to set a Wren against an Eagle An honorable retreat seems more advantagious then a needless contestation Well he retires to his house not without leaving Elise in some kind of sorrow which under the permission of a just research was far advanced in her favour and could not be left without grief Yet Andronico having at first sought her for the respect of wealth had now by long frequentation observed in her many vertues and lodged them deeply in his heart letting her gain much in his best affection I will not spread my self too far in the patticularities of their mutual loves not to take from this History its brevity So it is Andronico yields where he could not dispute with the greatness of his Competitor and Elise instructed by her mother to have no other will but that of her parents yields to the marriage of Philippin rather for obedience then any inclination and Scevole imitating the dog in the fable leaves a small body for a great shadow losing both the one and the other so weak and feeble is our humane wisdom Elise being Philippins giving him her body and with it her heart absolutely to love him as an honest wife ought to do a husband blotting from her thoughts all the impressions she had of Andronico and he having lost all hope to enjoy her lost also the design of pursuing any further But as a man sleeping is not dead nor a fire out that is covered with ashes even so this love rejoiced to awake and lighten in these young hearts which a holy amitie had heretofore tied in a mutual bond Elise being thus separated from Philippin as you have seen and returned to her parents Andronico who was ordinarily in the town expecting some good match sees her at her fathers where his own worth gave him free access at which sight he feels some sparks of his first flame At first it was without design and rather for a kind of civility then otherwise yet he after continues his visits by inclination and pleasure that he takes in the conversation of this creature of whose pittiful misfortunes he conceives as much compassion as he had heretofore been passionate for her And because love enters not into the soul by any gate so wide as that of condolence the extreme misfortunes of poor Elise made and ample breach in the heart of this young Gentleman who doubtless loved her truly yet with all the honour and respect that might be desired of a man which made profession of vertue But this entertainment went so far that Elise lets herself be carried to yield to the entertainments of Andronico being also much pleased in his conversation which was full of discretion and modesty example of his ends and pretensions that renders rather marcenarie then true these worldy friendships They lived like brother and sister enjoying a pure and perfect union And as there is nothing so precious in a great affliction as to find a confident friend in whose breast one may impose their griefs and which partakes of our ills by an unfained charitie Elise esteems it her happiness to have met with Andronico to whom she communicates her griefs with a holy and innocent confidence and he on the other side took such part that Elise receives a marvellous consolation for by his words and reasons he tempred the sharp points which augmented the smart of this disaster withal having a certain grace in his speech that made his counsels and consolations very commendable If Elise complain of the rigorous usage of Philippin his fierceness and cruelty Andronico blames this fierce cruelty and judges him unworthy to enjoy so great a goodness as hers saying that the love of Elise was too sincere for a subject so full of ingratitude and that if she had not yielded to him so much he would have more respected her and not given her this ill usage I shall never have done if I should undertake to represent their discourse and entertainments which made them esteem the hours as short as minutes in which they were present one with the other and a moment of absence seemed infinite ages Thus by little and little the sympathie of their dispositions made them find themselves tied in knot indissoluble without ever passing in this their frequentation which was always in the presence of either Sophie or Scevole any action word or thought directly or indirectly contrary to purity and honesty Their eyes were of doves washed in the milk of innocence and whiteness their lips bound with a scarlet ribbon so full of puritie was their discourse with hands full of myrrhe preservative against corruption were exempt of impurity their hearts and bodies breathed nothing but modest How often both Scevole and Sophie seeing this commendable amity grieved they had not joined them in marriage according to their first intent But repentance came too late the dice are thrown We must with patience more or less Sustain those wrongs we can't redress Impatience is afflictions sonne And breeds a thousand plagues alone The whilst these unadvised parents considered not they threw oil on the fire that their youths kindled though she covers it with a vail of chaste modestie this gave liberty to Elise to desire Andronico if she had been free from the slavish tyrannie of Philippin she reproves often the ambition of her parents who had been cause of her fall by an ascent too high how much more sweet appears a mediocrit fortune then those so eminent which like the fate of huge rocks are sooner struck thunder then the humble vallies considering What trouble and distraction 's there where Power With Love's Corrival and Competitor Andronico gathers these plants as pearls from roses for he was not without tears making ruddie the plants of his desires and cursing his ill fortune which made them acceptable now out of season and were refused when receivable Till when says he O confounder of vertue and my sworn enemy wilt thou persecute me Remorseless Fate then merciless will move In opposition to impede my Love But then coming to himself and seeing that under these fantastical names of fortune and destinie he taxed the divine providence under whom slides the thread of out days and which holds our being in his hands resolves to adore rather then
fair a cause Truly replied Isabel it is here I see that Lovers are not only fed with dreams in sleeping but with falshoods in waking leaving solid contentment to follow vain shadows Go go feed on these spirits and images as much as you please methinks you wrong credit and for a small matter Verily if you were an Idolater I would freely say If Pagans with dead Statues were in love Resembling Gods and Goddesses above Who can blame me to love a living Saint And her effigies in my heart to paint But being a Christian as you are I am astonished to see you led after these superstitions so vain and ridiculous But Madam replied Roboald is it possible that fortune hath so blinded you as it hath hindred you from seeing any thing in that Glass after having uttered that fearfull words Those words that are to me as disdainfull as you esteem them venerable answered Isabel have no way sealed my eyes nor have shewed me in that Glass other then what I see ordinarily in my own that is my own face And to let you see I have looked into it not fearfully but attentively it is true it is one of the finest and cleerest that I ever looked into Yet said Roboald you are some other thing then nothing and you have not altogether lost your time in that you have contemâ—plated your self so well I but that is not all I sought continued Isabel for I have a glass of my own that doth me that office at my pleasure without art or inchantment Many times it happens by the strength of charms replied Roboald that we see that we thought not to see and see not that we thought to have seen that is an elusion and the strangest that can be told For my self every time I look into that Chrystal I cherish the object I bear stamped so profoundly in my soul I feel my affections renewed and augmented the excess of my passion redoubling the excess of my fever If this glass be so hurtfull to you give me leave that I may break it says this Lady otherwise I shall think you are of intelligence with your enemies in the conjuration of your own ruine I beseech you said Roboald not to commit such a sacrilege to break that that hath received so noble an impression for since it had but the honour to represent your self it deserves to be eternally preserved and my ill is so precious to me that that which other sick men do to be healed I do for conservation of my sickness But is it possible that this Glass from whence comes the fire that consumes me hath not inflamed you with love of your self Can it be that your sight that gathers all splendor hath not incited in your soul the effects of a burning glass You are far from the fortune of Narcissus that became taken with his own form presented in a Spring that served him for a tomb yet Love of it self is natural to fair Maids witness the continual traffick they have with their Glasses Roboald said Isabel you would by these jests flatter my miseries and sweeten the rigor of my prison in which it is as hard to find me fair as merry for nothing alters nothing so much changes beauty as sadness and melancholy Which like some cruel tempest doth alas Blast those fair stowry blossoms of the face And as had kills the sprouting flowers so grief Distorts my troubled breast without relief It to not that I do not much love my self for it is a thing so natural as it is very hard to hinder if one be in a high degree of perfection But truly I am not yet arrived at this period of folly to love my self in a Chrystal not to sigh for an object I carry with me and is as much mine as I am mine own But when Narcissus loved replied Roboald lie took his own Arm for that of anothers and in loving thought of nothing less then to love himself So that destroying by his own dilection with too much loving he hates himself And even like a torch that turned down goes out With the same wax that gave it life so this fabulous youth in seeing himself though yet he saw not was so possessed with his own raving as he had no place in himself for himself Let us leave these fables said Isabel Yea but fables replied Roboald hide many times under their shadowes the cleerest truths And what truth can be drawn out of these ravings The strongest that ever mounted into the brains of Poets If ever Roboald were pressed to cast off the vail of his fears it was here For Occasion shewed him the lock of hair on his forehead and he thinks if he let it slip by his negligence her despight against his baseness would never shew him so favourable a face again Therefore searching in his thoughts the subtilest inventions that his passion could produce and to imitate the nimble Galataea that the Poet speaks of which threw Apples in flying and would hide herself artificiously after having been discovered He leads this Damosel by the clue of his tongue into a labyrinth of so many winding discourses biassed cover'd double and of divers senses that now saying and then unsaying he enters and goes out he 's inclosed and again loosed and still fains not to say that he would say with an eloquence of which the art is not known but to those that love and dare not discover their affection Now if the Assailant were quick the Defendant was not less cunning For crafty Isabel seeing this beast taken and strugling in her toils this Spider wrapped up in its own web faining not to comprehend these dissemblings took an admirable pastime for it was a pleasure incomparable that she saw him now pale with fear to have manifested himself too much now red with shame to unsay anon inflamed with desire to pull off the mask of his discourse and then to withhold himself by the apprehension he had to displease her changing colour as often as a Camelion his forehead being ashamed of the variety of those that make the Aurora so appear agreeable At last having pursued this Stag and brought her to a stand keeping the change notwithstanding all these hoverings she pressed him in such sort by her questions and the passion of this man brought him to that point as he was forced to let fall the colour of his art and to take off the vail of his dissimulation confessing there was no other inchantment in his glass but that of art that he served himself to make known to this Maid to herself and in herself the subject of his bold affections A Criminal that the torture hath made confess his irremissible crime attends not with more certainty the sentence of his death then lost Roboald that of the condemnation of his presumption But the strong and cunning Amazon could not forbear blushing at this declaration yet knows with so much art to colour her colours that that which
divine hath joyned Elise this innocent unfortunate creature which is the principal person in this tragick Scene which we present was a Gentlewoman well born endowed with more chastity and vertues then beauty of face for it appears in this our lamentable age wherein we live that beauty and vertue are enemies Her mother wife of Scevole her father shall be by us for her wisdom called Sophie her birth was not so illustrious as she was full of vertues for Who in rare manners hath her sexe outgone Next comes her daughter and gives place to none She had brought up these two Daughters which were all the children she had with much modesty and great fear of God and as Elise had been longer under her discipline then her sister Elinor so she surpassed her in humility and obedience She was of more years then Philippin but very few being very discreet and judicious that nothing was wanting in her to make her an accomplished mother of a family Her vertue sweetness modesty and the extreme affection she had to her husband was so great that in the end he was constrained by so many obligations of strong chains to love You would have said that she brought into the house of Timoleon the same qualities that Raguel ordained in his daughter Sara in the house of Tobias She was quiet and pleasing to her husband respectfull and serviceable to her Father-in-law who became almost her idolater he was so much ravished with the good offices she rendred him Philippin who is not altogether insensible is constrained to yield to so much goodness for there is no heart so hard says an Antient which will not give love not being constrained for the only price of love is love the charm without witchcraft to make one beloved is to love And what appearance is there not to love her which loved but him who loved not day but to see him nor breathed but to please him He must be a rock that should not yield himself to so just so holy and legitimate a flame For although his thoughts refused and his imagination filled with the consideration of another idea not leaving any void to imprint this new impression yet his reason vanquished by so much love is constrained to acknowledge it by a mutual return of love You would say that as Isaac tempred the grief he had for the death of his mother by the coming of his wife so our new Bridegroom forgetting altogether his first furies to range himself within the bounds of duty and obedience wrapping up these flying fires in the sacred and solid marriage is a wise march which we ought to conduct with much temperance and good government That husband which expects so much seeking from his wife is as an Antient says no other but an adulterer those who mingle so much niceness and curiosity in this venerable alliance strengthening their valour and esteeming their dignity This Sacrament ought rather to be practised by ripe and staid judgments then by heat and desire Happy had Philippin been had these considerations been weighed in the other scale of his carriage but his years too tender did not as yet make him capable of these solid governments but only necessity the fear of his father and the strong ascendant power the vertues of his new wife had gained in his judgment held him within the bounds of duty with much admiration of all those which saw it who would never have thought so happy a beginning in marriage to have had so unfortunate an end as this which I have almost with Honor writ Thrice happy Elise as the Poet says of his Did◠if on the borders of Carthage Aeneas had never arrived than under a fain shew of being free and noble hid falshood and disloyalty Elise was but too happy we may say of her if her parents had not been blinded with the brightness of immoderate ambition bringing her to so great and illustrious an alliance for this height serves her but like that of the Tortoise which is raised by the Eagle to be thrown upon the rocks and broken 〈◊〉 thousand peeces If resemblance of dispositions is the cause of the firmness of friendship equality is also the surest pillar of a good marriage For disproportions in birth or in faculties early or late brings always distastes and riots these are the seeds of divisions for the latter season All this nevertheless appears no more in the beginning of the marriage then seeds freely sowed in the earth but such as you sow such shall you reap Timoleon bring his son and daughter to Bellerive so full of joy and contentment to see himself freed of his debts the business of his house in the hands of one both wise and of authority his son delivered as he thought of his antient passions that there was not any of all those which visited him to which he did not shew in his face and in his discourse the excess of his joy He was so carefully served so religiously honoured by his daughter-in-law that he esteemed by this fashion his life crowned with the happiest age imagineable he thanks of nothing but making good chea◠and running smoothly the rest of his days The care of his domestick businesses troubled him not for Elise instructed in the knowledge of these things by her mother Sophie in her tendrest years takes all this charge and with such care and good order as nothing was wanting all in abundance every one content and all the world blessed them What doth not a vertuous and well given person accompanied with piety perform she inspires all the house with devotion it is a salt which seasons all things she is Mary in her orisons Martha in her solitude you would say by her vigilance and affairs that she had no time for prayer and seeing her spiritual exercisc◠that she spent no time but in prayer all sweetness in her exterior all fervor in her interior the perpetual visits of companies did no way divert her from the service of Godo It is wisdom in a woman to be watchfull in great things without neglecting the least Humble gracious temperate wise advised modest pleasing metry the honour and glory of her her race and of all that country How is not Philippin's heart charmed with so much merits he wanted nothing but a little more judgment to esteem so many obliging qualities Among those which came to visit Timoleon and Philippin to congratulate this haypy alliance Pyrrhe and Harman failed not to which their neighbourhood obliged as also their vassalage There is no speech of what 's past Timoleon keeps an open table Philippin strives to oblige them a thousand ways Our young son is married he hath no more need of a Governour having so good a Governess The exercises of hunting are renewed which the Citizen understands not so well as the Country wench Elise understands nothing but what a woman ought to know Isabel is a souldier of the long robe She hears by
doth give us leisure She living retired with her father under the wings of her mother Sophy with as much will and obedience as when she was a Maid Oh if she had not tempred the rage of her fathers anger against Philippin what would he not have done to have brought this deboist son-in-law to his duty and obedience See but what a good disposition she is of to procure all good to him which had used her so cruelly and so shamefully sent her away But it may be her goodness was not commendable in this for hindring the course of justice which reduces sometime to good the most desperate for fear of punishment So that being patient and hoping that this foolish love would be past over quickly out of the fancy of this cruel man whom though lost as he was she loved as her life she inspires patience into Scevole although he had much ado to suffer these outrages We have told you how she was great with child and because she did not nourish the fruit in her body but with bread of grief and â—ink of tears we must not wonder if brought to bed before 〈◊〉 time a son came into the world without life for grief had stifled it in his mothers womb Philippin being both its father and deaths-man This pittiful creature thought to carry with herself that she had brought forth into the sepulchre Too happy Elise if dying thus thou hadst not been reserved to a trespass unworthy thy fair life I will leave take to speak of her excellent vertues which she practised during this horrible travel which she thought should have put her in her grave what holy and Christian thoughts sustained her courage during these assaults She receives all the Sacraments of the Church with that devotion that edified all those which saw these actions they thought their hearts would have cleft with pitty She asks a thousand pardons of her parents filled with grief to see her in this estate Committing to her sister Leonore the pardon she demanded of Philippin whose cruelties she even honoured in this extreme agony She lost so much blood as she thought verily to have rendred up her soul by this flux the Physitians believing no less But as this languishing death is rather tedious then violent leaving their judgments with a great clearness and understanding she had leisure to write this Letter in her extremities which she would have subscribed with her blood to touch with pitty the insensible heart of her welbeloved Adversary VVe will report it thus NOw that this soul of mine is ready to leave the miserable body that could never find grace before your eyes and being now at point to flie into the arms of the welbeloved heavenly Bridegroom Permit thrice beloved and most lovely Philippin to this wretched Elise to open her heart unto thee which hath always been entirely and invariably thine that in taking of you and of the world my last leave I may present before you for my farewell these dying words since after so many sweet testimonies of friendship we must part the remembrance of which is death in the most cruel death it self that I should prove change in a courage which had promised me never should be capable of infidelity It is long since I would have left my life if the laws of God had not forbid my passage which I go to free with as little grief as life being deprived of your favour is pleasing to me Alas must I for having honoured â—â—u so religiously endure that usage more fit for an infidel I will not contest with you if it be with reason that I have fâ—â— the effects so contrary to their cause For your will being my rule and my reason makes me against my judgment believe that all you have done to me rigorously I feel is full of equity and justice So that examining my conscience upon the duties I was bound to give you and finding my self not guilty of any thing I think that for a punishment of my other sins God hath permitted you to take my respects for wrongs and my humilities for outrages Had I been treated in the form of offenders I should have understood the cause of my punishment before undergone But I was struck with thunder before the lightning appeared and sooner condemned then heard The which I say not to complain for fear to turn this complaint into an offence to hurt you in thinking to s atisfie you humbly asking pardon for all I have failed in to your service For although my duty and condition bound me to give you all sort of obedience and fidelity it is true I was more carried by my love then for any other consideration of civil respect I think without vanity being the creature in the world which hath best loved you and which thinks not to have given other subject to offend you but the excess of her ardent affection But almost the perfection of love is in excess who sees not but this fault carries its excuse in its accusation and if blamed is commendable It may be if she had not been so fervent in affection you had esteemed her more but her extremity made you less accept it so that you have no way heretofore comprehended it but like a weak vapour dispersed as soon as risen since in a moment it is dead in your remembrance Alas what is become of that happy time in which not having other care but to please you you seemed to study nothing but to content me in yielding me love for love in which consisted the feast of our felicities Whither are those fair dayes gone in which you received no contentment but by my me nor did any thing but by my counsel as I lived not but for you nor breathed not but to please you Times and dayes too happy and whereof the sweet enjoying is converted for a fault to my memory Alas must I for having been invariable be so lightly changed and a fading beauty with so little consideration be preferred before a solid goodness But why do I lose my self in this complaint having had a des ign to sâ—â—ther it in my soul for fear to offend you All I fear is that this Letter should trouble by pitty the repose my ashes desire to contribute to your new flames Happy beyond my merit if I may do you service by my death by making the unjust legitimate Of all my ills I accuse my ill fortune not attributing them to any but to my own faults not deserving of you but that just hatred with which you have pursued my indignities That which comforts me in the griefs that bury me is that the cause of my sufferings lightens my grief I apprehend only that this paper soils not with some shadow of reproach and with some touch of ingratitude so many perfection as I have always loved and honoured in your person for which the least supportable rigors have seemed not only tolerable but sweet my affection
soul praying that the mercy of God may open heaven to it and that earth may be light on my ashes Cruel and yet welbeloved Philippin at least love me being dead since that sacrificing to you my life I give you the most pleasing service that I have ever given you I am weaâ—ier of life then of writing O my dear Lord and husband my soul is going content if thou permit it to draw with its last ascent this free sigh ' Since my vow'd Faith here cannot make the least ' Impression on thy unrelenting breast ' Lo I my Soul do cheerfully resigne 'To Death who hath more charity then thine She thought to have leâ—t her life ending her long Letter For grief and love two strong passions with the extreme pain which affected her body made such an impression as she thought verily to have lost her senses with her blood But by her youth and good constitution the care of her parents help of physitians and perfections of remedies the great Conductor of the world which reserved her for a more sad spectacle preserved her for this time The End of the Third Book ELISE OR Innocencie guilty The Fourth Book WHen this writing subscribed with the blood of this languishing creature came to the hands of Philippin he felt in his soul strange convulsions as what Tygre had not been moved at so much sweetness and humility For comparing in his memory the paradise of tranquillity passed with the hâ—ll of unquietness present he grieves for her being dead whom he had afflicted living But these touches were like the weak pushes of those which wake out of a sound sleep but being drowsie fall incontinently down upon their pillow from which they cannot raise themselves but with great pain His heart was so glued to his present voluptuousness that he had almost forgot the remembrance of his past happiness the clouds hindred him from knowledge of the brightness of this vertue that like a torch casts greater flames by how much the more it draws neer the end Even as an Antient said We slight a present good so Vertue most in sight is hated but ador'd when lost If she court us we flie and grown more coy Disdain those pleasures which we most enjoy These characters imprinted some kind of pitty in this courage before deaf to all that could be said and drew some tears from his eyes but those small drops falling on his hard heart did no more penetrate then rain falling on rocks on the contrary this water like the flood of the Sycionians that dries the wood seemed to redouble his obstinacie and to produce the same effects as the small showers that the vehement heat of the sun draws from the clouds in the hottest of summer which rather burns the leafs of plants then any way refreshes them For fearing his compassion should give jealousie to Isabel or shadow her with some doubt of his affection he is angry with his pitty holding cruelty for a great vertue Proud Isabel at the report of the pitteous news of Elise's death which the messenger assured her thought she should have swouned with extreme joy and contentment esteeming that this obstacle being removed nothing could hinder Philippin from healing the shame of her love by marriage She gives thanks to heaven as if it had been guilty of her fault and bound to repair it by so bloody a means by which you may note the humours of these creatures that are many times so impudent to mingle divinity with their misdeeds Pyrrhe is presently advertised at Vaupre who much rejoices for the ensuing wedding of his daughter and the house of Philippin in stead of wearing blacks for the decease of their Mistress are imployed in feasting and joy of a nuptial pomp to honour a marriage with small honour consummated Philippin receives a double joy by this death seeing himself delivered of her which he could not have been but by it and in possession of her which he could not make his legitimate wife as long as Elise had lived He saw himself possessed with great wealth by Scevole by the means of Dalimene which if he should have restituted or been deprived of would have been his utter ruine He imagines to be gotten above all his pretensions And as the loadstone hath no force to draw to it that iron that is rubbed with garlick even so his heart invironed with the stinking garlick of dishonest voluptuousness cannot be moved to any pitty towards poor Elise whose love trains her to death Accursed be the flames and plots of those Projectors who so fruitlesly expose Themselves to plots so abortive and forlorn They die before they are begot or born For as they were preparing for these nuptial feasts with great diligence news came to them of the recovery of Elise which turned all their joy into smoke and buried all their designs Oh how vain and light is humane understanding Philippin hates the life of her whom he lamented being dead Isabel is in despair Pyrrhe in fury and Herman afflicted all deceived because prevented of their hopes and pretensions Certainly God would have it so and reserve Elise for misfortunes more cruel to make his glory shine on the depth of an apparent ignominie But the rage of Philippin rests not there For being pressed by Pyrrhe to keep his word with him having removed his Appeal to Rome to make that sentence void which had confirmed his marriage with Elise he imploies his uttermost means to remove all lets and hindrances to prove it of no effect not forgetting any diligence or earnestness in the pursuit thereof But if he were a violent undertaker he hath to do with a better defendant For Scevole being upheld by the most equitable right in the world knew better how to handle these Process-weapons then himself This hinders not nevertheless but this labyrinth of contestations ingenders a marvellous long proceeding during which years slide away Philippin is always in possession of Isabel by whom he had some children which were brought up as legitimate The whilst he is lost in his debauches and by these ill proceedings offends again with new outrages the goodness of the chaste Elise which cruel persecution carries him to an action more inconsiderate then malicious and which will cost him his life You must understand that Elise being a Maid had been sought in marriage by a Gentleman well qualified and of a reasonable good estate whom we will call Andronico for some reasons which make this name proper to him of which this is the principal that among his qualities he had one which drew his title from the Apostle who was brother to S. Peter with this being very valiant having had many encounters in which he was still victorious this name methinks agrees well to make all these things darkly understood This young Andronico after a long pursuit because of a secret dislike Scevole had of men of the sword not willing to give his daughter but to a
the mouth is most sharp to wounds and as there is nothing more scalding then oil when it is hot so these outrages coming from your mouth are so much more grievous by how much I have received consolation and gratification Must I be so unhappy to see the fire of my wounds come from the place from whence I expected my healing Is it possible after such a metamorphosis that you retain the name of that Elise that professed so much love to me then when it was less lawfull to love me of that Elise which I so devoutly honoured and against all these contradictions I cherish yet more then my proper life I cannot tell more how to name you nor know not what term to find expressing enough in any idiom that can set forth as it ought such an inconstancie At least Madam let me know the reason that hath caused so long time your pitty to be deaf at my prayers and after this knowledge let heaâ—en cut my life by the knife of your cruelty when it pleases him This is the smallest favour I may hope of you seeing I can draw so much from cruelty it self there is nothing more just then to make known to an offender the cause of his suffering nor any thing more unjust then to conceal it from him If a small cloud can take from our eyes the sight of the sun that is so great replied Elise it is easie with a small fault to shadow out one of a greater importance But that God that sees all and which knows the secrets of hearts and dives into the dark corners of our reins that is served with things of smaller appearance to make known the most covered and which can draw the light of the truth from midst of the thickest obscurities of falshoods will also be served with my goodness and the consideration of that love which I have heretofore born thee for to give thee means to shun a shamefull punishment and to withdraw thee quickly from this place where 't is wonder that thou causâ— have so much assurance having committed so great a fact my silence and thy retreat will be more safe then my discourse and thy stay I would to God you had not done that which I dare not tell you because I have not forehead enough to blush for the loss of thine Content your self that my honour being tiâ—d to your life not to lose the one I will conserve the other although the one is as precious to me as the other is detestable In all this there was much said yet nothing of what should have been said And what is he that would not wonder at these delays and at the length of these circumlocutions For since Passion is a labyrinth it is no marvel if it have many turnings Andronico having had some feeling of the reports which ran to his disadvantage upon the death of Philippin doubts it might be about this accusation comforts himself in the hope to see an end of this Mine that threatned a great descent after it had taken wing being founded on the truth of his innocence So that for fear to anger this woman knowing there is nothing more fierce then a Bee when it is moved which puts her life in the wound she makes and never stings that she rests not wounded to death he fains to be ignorant of the end of this her fury in saying to her That when one endures a pain deserved it is made so much the more tolerable that one believes to extinguish a sin is to suffer without desert it would be hard but more insupportable to suffer innocently and again in being ignorant of the cause of his sufferance And then kneeling down at the feet of Elise with a voice somthing higher then before or then the place where he was and the presence of Sophie although not neer seemed to permit him Madam says he I will die here or learn from your mouth what can be the cause that puts me into so fierce a disgrace nor will I ever leave you till you give me this satisfaction to let me know of what death I shall die for I take heaven to witness I find not my self guilty of any thing that may be prejudicial to you I beseech you not to give way to calumnies and reports to the prejudice of my sincerity Elise surprised to see him in this estate and before her mother did not know on what side to turn her wherefore intreating him to rise which he refused to do she says to him softly Content yourself that I cannot speak without offending mine honour and your life And that in the midst of the hatred with which I detest your vileness I reserve this spark of my antient affection for the conservation of them both to which I found my self bound not so much for any good I wish you but for the respect I owe my modesty Madam replied the unfortunate Andronico this is not to give me light but to plunge me into a new obscurity I beseech you discover these riddles and not to tell me again in other terms the same thing you have already told me for what can he fear that doubts not death but on the contrary if I lose your favour I desire it to free me of a life which will be more troublesom then it being deprived of your love All that astonishes me is your honour which you say is engaged to my conservation and in that it may be you have said better then you think For when the purity of my intentions shall be known the greatness of my affections the sincerity of my soul and how many dangers I have run to give you proof of my service and that you have recompenced me with despair that will take my life it will be hard for you to remove this stain of ingratitude which like an eternal infamy will remain on the pureness of your understanding If ever it happen not that I attempt but only think any thing that might never so little prejudice your honour for the conservation whereof I 'll spend a thousand lives I desire that the heavens never pardon me any fault May I be rais'd by fortune or cast down By fate being object of thy smile or frown Though the disastrous destinies should combine To annihilate and ruine me and mine Nought can divorce my affection or divert Th'unfain'd devotion of a faithsull heart It will be easie for me to resolve to die after being deprived of that I held dearer then life What do I say Truly it will be harder to me to resolve to live or rather to outlive such a loss yet to lose my life without knowing the cause for which I die this is that I cannot resolve on if I do not bury my self with the quality of the maddest of all humane creatures Wherefore I intreat you to permit me to press you with all sort of importunity to declare to me the ground of my condemnation otherwise I shall believe that the
words you have given me and those promises you have made me even by writing as I can easily testifie proceeded not but from a changeable humour incident to your fâ—x and of which I ought to expect nothing but pure inconstancie At this Elise was touched to the quick and as they say in the ball of the eye Who cutting off suddenly this long discourse all inflamed with spight and red with choler answers him VVhat do you upbraid me with my words and taxe me with promises to draw me into your crime and to match with the murderer of my husband God will not punish my disloyalty although thy falshood Go traitor and the most soiled with infidelity that earth ever bore Doest thou in this sort wrong my easie belief and simplicity to make me guilty although innocent of the bloody falshood that you wrought in your thoughts Go crocodile that weeps before me to devoure me and to ravish mine honour with my life It was not on the miseries that I suffered then that thou contributedst thy tears but on the ill fortunes thou preparest for me Oh I will never trust on the faith and words of any man or let heaven punish me with all griefs that are to be imagined if it happen to me again to let my self be cozened At these words uttered in a fashion that testified that the excess of indignation had made her beside herself Andronico knew cleerly the truth of her distaste Of which much joyfull in himself because the testimony of his conscience made him unblameable in stead of excusing this invective with sharp words being wronged smiling as it were and sweetly blotting out this error which seemed pleasing well Madam replied he if I should have committed this crime of which you accuse me what had I done but rendred Philippin that he would have given me by the attempt of Valfran But I have not so base a courage to give such commission to others nor so traiterous to execute them my self I often desired to see him with his sword in his hand without other advantage but my courage and the justice of your cause but we were hindred in this design by our friends But when I should have thrown him where his misfortune has cast him what had I done in it but the office of the divine justice which vanquished by his unworthiness was forced to extermine him off the face of the earth where he led so infamous and shamefull a life And to you Madam what service should I have done you in breaking the bands of your slavery and of the hardest tyrannie that was ever proved But as I do quit the thanks you should owe me if I had done you that good office so you ought not to accuse me of a fact I have not committed but to confess to you ingeniously many times thought For why should I not desire the death of him that had conspired against my life and of him that in possessing of you ravished me barbarously of the dearest pretension I had in the world By these words Elise believes assuredly Andronico had at least caused this murder to be committed which made her thunder in these words full of fury and indignation Ah disloyalâ— thou art not contented to confess thy fault but to glory in it too esteeming it not only worthy of thanks but of praise not willing to sin with imputation but with reason and for to imbarque me in the vessel of thy shame and to carry me with thee into the certain shipwrack of thy honor thou wouldst cover me with thy infamy But know cruel that although Philippin was severe to me he never had a soul so base and traiterous as thou But this shall not rest so for in the place where thou wouldst offer mine honour to thy passion thy own life shall be offered She uttered this discourse so loud as she made Sophie run to her for with it she cried out as if Andronico had pressed her with some unjust matter To whom she said Look you dear mother to what you have reduced me by your commandment to entertain the murderer of my husband Should you have tormented me so much to make me hearken to this Brutal who not satisfied with the blood of Philippin will also by a certain art as abominable as malicious ravish the honour of his poor wife And judge if I had not reason to shun with all care this rock so dangerous Not only he confesses his crime but boasts of it and what is the end of his vileness but only to intangle innocence in guilt with him He thinks by the help of a certain Paper which his artificial importunities have torn from my simplicity to make me consenting to this homicide Of which if ever I thought I desire the justice of heaven nor of men may ever favour me If Sophie were not amazed heading this language I leave it to you to judge And during the astonishment that seised her Andronico had time to say to Elise Madam you have many other ways to be rid of my life if you had but imployed that of your cruelty without casting also mine honour into the depth of shame which is unsupportable to me that is also to break violently the laws of friendship as barbarously as those of courtesie But I would have you know that as I have loved you honourably and vertuously these two props failing my love goes to ruine I honour love when it hath vertue for its principle but I love honour by a singular preferance it hath before life and all things Those that touch mine honour touch the sight of mine eyes for that was the only thing I could prefer to your love But since that love will become ruinous to mine honour I must protest I hold it for enmity and mortal enmity for never any of what quality or condition soever shall attempt on mine honour whose life I will not take Pardon me in losing the duty I owe to love being you are grown bankrupt of fidelity And truly if I say that it 's false I confessed to be guilty of the murder of Philippin of which I detest the author and the action as much as you can do with all the cunning of your ceremonious mourning 't is certainly not for the loss of that man that hated me but that I have in abomination a murder so detestable You might have contented you with your falshood and to have broken your oaths and the writings of your promises without seeking this odious pretext by which you conspire the loss of him that hath offered his blood for the sustent of your honour But as God lives in heaven that reveals the secrets of all hearts and the seals most dark I will turn these evils on your own head And to the end you may know it was love and not interest which made me seek you as long as I esteemed you vertuous from henceforth renouncing the words you gave me and writings I have of yours
she had plunged my innocence To which this worthy Churchman answered That it was the work of a good and true Christian not to render evil for evil but good for evil by the example of him that being cursed cursed not again but being unjustly persecuted presented his cheâ—k to blows his face to be spit on and his body to the murderers without making more noise then a tender lamb whose throat is cut And that he must be more spaâ—ing of the time that was left him to acknowledge his faults That it was question of a minute whereon eternity did depend That it would be less judiciously done to losâ— a Kingdom that hath no end for a moment of ransom that it was better to swallow this draught of bitterness as a man of courage and not with cowardly fear and that it was the greatest of all baseness of the heart not to pardon an injury that revenge was the mark of a faint heart and effeminate a dangerous ulcer which invenomed his soul and made him bring forth a mortal canker Having now won thus much on the great courage of Andronico to pardon her his death that was the unjust cause of it it was easie for him to purge this soul which free noble and open of his own nature gives free passage to penitence which made an operation of a marvellous conversion a true change unto the right of God He confesses his sins with great compunction discovering all his heart with an extreme freedom adoring the hand of God laid heavy on his head and humbly kist the rod that chastised him to the end it might serve him for a rod of direction to bring him to the kingdom of God This worthy man pressed him hard to award this fault before that tribunal where falshood is a sacriledge and not lose himself in the way of Câ—in that denied the murder of his brother For as S. Peter said to Ananias one may easily deceive men by falshood but not God Yet still he firmly denies to have given any advice or had any design on the life of Philippin This at first aboard astonish'd Cyrille who carried by the vulgar opinion and violence of the conjecture doubts that an attempt so dishonest had hardened his heart by a foolish shame He gives him many examples on this subject But seeing on the one side his extreme earnestness in the accusation of the rest of his faults and a strong perseverance in the denial of the same he began to be perswaded he had not committed it Having then purged sufficiently his thoughts of his offence by a good absolution and having made him perform divers acts of contrition humility resignation and of renouncement of the world and submission to the will of God of patience hope faith and confidence in the goodness and mercies of God he raises him thus by little and little into the air of divine love Even as the heat of the fire loosens the flesh from the bones even so death that heretofore appeared so terrible to him seems now a sure and pleasing port where he may enjoy the eternity of peace which passes all understanding When these two hear to thus dissposed came to meet in the Chappel of the Prison whither these poor Patients were brought attending the hour of their suffering we must not marvel if their antient loves were renewed being they were not only prepared for pardon but also to charity which is no other thing but the â—ame dilection all cordial and sincere The Confessors after they had reconciled them to God reconciled them one unto the other with great facility For as the iron flies unto the loadstone as soon as the garlick is removed the presence of the diamond is taken away that gives it liberty to carry it self to that straw that draws it to it Even so those souls being delivered of the stinking garlick of hatred and the hard diamond of obstination were easily drawn to these acts of humility that without the assistance of grace one might rather desire then have hoped this condescension and to see their tears mingled whose blood must shortly be mingled upon a shamefull scaffold Here Elise confessed aloud that she had no other proof against Andronico for the death of Philippin but the common report and conjecture that the promise she had given in writing had brought him to that attempt to enjoy her in marriage There Andronico professed openly that as he had never so much as thought of that murder nor had ever been incited to it by Elise but only his despair had forced him to avouch this crime seeing he could not shun his punishment so by the same despair he had accused Elise to be guilty to make her perish for his revenge Some of the beholders esteemed these excuses as fained as they were most true And the Judges those inflexible Radamanthes mocked at these denials out of season The irrevocable sentence is pronounced by their mouths they have given it according to their consciences and conformable to the law Their ears are so accustomed to hear these excuses of offenders that they are to them as unnecessary songs for it is the custom of men to say they are innocent considering only their witnesses not their own consciences They imagine that this miserable pair being resolved to lose their lives intended to preserve some vain shadow of honour in saying they were innocent of so odious a crime but that being on the scaffold at the last hour of their death which is the rack of racks they would then declare all to the discharge of those that had judged and condemned them I will not here present the griefs of these two spirits being I think they cannot be comprehended nor express their complaints seeing their innocence was made guilty more by their inconsideration then by their malice Nor can describe their displeasure finding they were cause of one anothers loss You may judge that their griefs their complaints and displeasures were as pittifull as their affections were now sincere for in these extremities there is no more dissimulation no faining nor art and less colour it is no more but a plain simplicity Elise desires many times to take her last farewell of her parents But having heard that the news of her condemnation had caused her father to retire into the Country not being able to support the sight of so tragick a fortune of which there was no remedy And that the grief of this had given such an assault to the heart of Sohpie her mother that she was in bed sick unto death she obtains permission to write to them to make known unto them in these last words the feeling she had of their sorrows which was more incomparably then what she had of her own SIR I Complain not to see my self abandoned by you in an instant where the only hope consists in not expecting any I not only approve your retreat but should have counselled it if my advice had been demanded
it is tedious to them to stay in this place of assurance The whilst he thus goes temporising he was called to end his days in troublesom affairs as you shall hear After than Elise and Andronico more unfortunate then malicious had been punished for a fault they had not committed as the Psalmist says Paying with great extortion and rack-use What they ne'r truly borrowed with abuse Pyrrhe and Herman esteemed that the death of these innocents would be a satisfaction and covering to their fault lived though not with interior assurance for an ill conscience serves for a Judg and Hangman to it self yet at least with an exterior safety that promised them an apparent nonpunishment For they were not only exempt of the accusation of this matter but also of suspition to have attempted any thing against Philippin Pyrrhe repairs in part his honour by the ill usage wherewith he treated the miserable Isabel making it appear by it that her ill life had been extremely unpleasing to to him And this Maid being fallen from this high fate of prosperity where she had seen herself in the company of Philippin and now reduced to a prison in which besides the deprivation of liberty she experimented excessive cruelty not knowing where to find more patience to sustain the force of so cruel a persecution I will not fill these leaves with the multitude of her complaints with which she filled her dark cabbin that less deaf to her complaints then the ears of her father seemed to suffer at her pains by its eccho and â—ound And I believe if Pyrrhe had heard them he must have been of marble or have had pitty to have produced in the world a creature so miserably unfortunate But not content to stop his ears at her dolorous griefs and to the protestations she made to live better hereafter and to give him as much cause to love her in her repentance as she had given him to hate her for her dissolute life Nor would he that his eyes should see the pittifull estate she was reduced to for fear to have had some compassion on her An hundred times he had murdered her with his own hands if nature had not strongly resisted against such a crime and if the force of blood had not withstood so bloody a design But he believed that this perpetual imprisonment and the barbarous usage he exercised on this miserable Caitiff would in a short time deliver him of her whose life was as odious as her death desired And it may be God who hates hearts that are hardned and unpittifull already displeased with the murder of Philipin throws on the heads of Pyrrhe and Herman a judgment without mercy because they had been without mercy Although the Israelites among the Egyptians committed great sins and were carried to detestable idolatry for which the yoke of a cruel slavery fell on their heads yet in the midst of their wickedness calling on the mercy of God his eternal goodness hears their cryes and hasted to their deliverance Achab and Manasse were evil Princes but their prayers drawn from their hearts by the strength of their tribulations made incontinently their peace with God which inclined their aid It is true that Isabel cannot be excused in having stain'd the honour of her family by her ill carriage But it may be that being converted to God in midst of her fighs he heard favorably her complaints and resolved to pluck her from this chain to the end that being delivered from the hands of this tyrant she might give herself to his service in the quality of a Nun to serve in holiness and justice at the foot of his Altars even to the last hour of her life Now I desire that we should remark admire and adore this divine Conductor who brings her to this end by marvellous turnings and sweetness incomparable We have seen in the course of this history how Herman was induced by Pyrrhe to the murder of Philippin and how he was assisted by Roboald an antient servant of their house in this homicide and it was by this Roboald that love made traiâ—oâ— to himself that this crime is discovered which forgetfulness seemed to have wrapped up in a perpetual silence But how enters love into this heart it was by the gate of pitty false gate that deceivest ordinarily the most wise Pyrrhe discharges on him the keeping of Isabel O it is an ill charge for a man a fair Maid Yet in the beginning he executes with fidelity the commandment of his master which was To shut her up straitly to feed her poorly in brief to exercise on her all kind of cruelties But in the end the water of the tears of Isabel pursue this heart of stone and the Lover with the beauties of her face draws this breast of iron to a yielding condescension Such strength hath a pleasing form of which all the force is in the sweetness but as much loved as it is pleasing Beauty hath an ascendant power and invitable on the fiercest courages the most cruel Tygres may be tamed and made familiar by an amirable conversation Isabel in the beginning of her imprisonment by a high and arrogant humour contributed much to the ill usage that Roboald made her feel For there is nothing more odious and less insupportable to God and men then pride and cruelty But when experience Mistress of the least advised had taught her that as a bird taken in a snare the more it strives the more it fastens the knot and the more she desired to be free the stricter she was kept and that her despite drew on her a more severe punishment she begins to change her battery and to spin fine and to sow the skin of the Fox to that of the Lyon Her vain threats had served her to nothing it may be her smiles and the charms of her conversation would get her more advantage Of an angry and disdainfull she becomes plaintiff and a suppliant So that changing the fashion of her carriage she makes tender by little and little this savage courage that begins to use her with more sweetness from that to hearken to her then to behold her At last as a Man that cannot be always a Wolf to another Man but hath a secret advocate in his humanity that perswades him to mildness lets himself be taken by the ears and sees his heart ravished by the eyes For both pitty and beauty gave such assaults into the thoughts of Roboald that forgetting the faith he had sworne to his Master he esteems it would be impiety to obey him any longer in so savage and unnatural a commission to the prejudice of so many graces that appeared in the face of this fair Prisoner And certainly the advantages that affections of Love have of those of Friendship are such that those that are touched with the one make more difficulty to prejudice the other even till their faults seem not only pardonable but commendable and rather worthy of glory
then of blame Roboald flatters himself with these vain hopes and resolves to oblige this Maiden to love him by all kind of good offices and to deceive in that the intention of his Master that had put her into his keeping but to use her with all hardness and cruelty The End of the Fifth Book ELISE OR Innocencie guilty The Sixth Book ALready the cunning Isabel feels some sweet liberty that she hath gotten in ties of â—his new slave and that her beauty hath penetrated his eyes Upon this foundation she builds her hopes and not without reason of effecting her deliverance She is cunning in the art of this Passion that inchants men and makes them supple to the wiles of those they love She blots out the maâ—ks of despair setled in her face and her fâ—esh colour returns with joy she hides her strong griefs in the smoothness of her forehead Why do I defer to tell you that Roboald is taken by his prisoner that he is Captive to his Captive falsâ—â—ying the proverb He finds nothing so fair nor pleasing as his prison He that heretofore beheld her with an envious eye beholding her now with pitty begins to take part of her pains and approving the complaints she made of the cruelty of her father he repented to have been the executor If she intreat him to be a means to make her peace with her father or for some comfort in this her cruel usage he promises it but suddenly recants for says he if he perceive that I lend an ear to your prayers he will suspect me and think that I ploâ— your liberty and taking you from my keeping it may be will put you into their hands that will be more rigorous to you And this was because being pricked by the interest of his passion he feared that the deliverance of this Maid should take away the empire he had of her body although she had a far greater on his heart Nevertheless to give her some testimony of his good will he makes her hope her delivery on what price soever though with the loss of his life Already crafty Isabel knew by the sighs and eyes of this new Lover that he was in the toils she had pitched for him he hath no pleasure but in her conversation nor no contentment but when she speaks to him But he speaks not to her of love nor of any thing near it for he knew the high courage of this Dame that beheld him always as a servant and as subject as she was to his government used him nevertheless as an imperious Mistress besides to cast his eyes on the daughter of his Master he cannot but expect punishment for so insolent an attempt and a disgrace that will bring his fortune into a ruine irrepairable Isabel that knew by this change of his face and the variety of his discourse the troubles of his heart and confusions of his thoughts although she had in horror this presumption and hated the authority of this Jailer for it is natural to hate those that tyrannise over our liberty yet her cunning made her seem ignorant of that she was clearly certain of and although she lightens love in this heart she fains to see nothing but pitty And demanding of him if he grieved not to see her reduced to so pittifull an estate I would to God Madam quoth he that One had as much pitty of my passion as I have of compassion It was enough said to an understanding so quick as that of Isabels Who knowing the greatness of this flame and heat of this spark and as much inflamed with despight to see how high the insolence of this Fellow was mounted and being troubled that he had given too evident a testimony of his love she mocks at this discourse by a subtile quickness How now said she Roboald you are then taken with this furious passion that hath caused me so many misfortunes Truly I will from henceforth promise not only some comfort in my miseries but also some excuse for my errors if you are touched with this sickness that made me run so foolishly after the just promises of marriage which only the death of Philippin hath annulled For besides the natural inclination I had to love him his carriage being accompanied with so many graces augmented by so long conversation that made so pleasing his lawfull seeking me in marriage what Maid had not been conquered by so many charms of greatnes and good fashion accompanied with an intended wedding I am astonished that my Father allows not somthing to the weakness of my sex and the strength of my affection seeing that in the beginning of this young Lords seeking me he permitted me to love him and to receive his service it was himself that brought me into the folds from whence after it was not in my power to return my self Roboald approving these excuses accuses afterwards the unreasonable cruelty of his Master and finding himself taken by the beak without denial that he loved her he tries to hide at least the cause of his flame although he had unwisely discovered the effect This was to throw a little water on a great fire and in flying to make himself be followed and to stir the curiosity of this Maid by the protestation that he made to die rather then to discover the object that held him in a trance Crafty Isabel that had had leisure enough in her prison to consult with her glass to learn in this faithfull glass the force the fire of her eyes had being much pleased to torment this Jailer and to make his fire so much the more scorching as it was covered with the ashes of silence and modesty this proud Captive intended to melt the wings of this new Icarus hiding under a fained apparence of sweetness a despitefull disdain armed with indignation not to be matched against the insolence of this fellow that had dared to raise his eyes to her prepares in deceiving him to draw herself out of prison and slavery and to leave him covered with scorn and shame At one time her fierce and high heart was combated with two passions very different of love and liberty and of hatred to him that should be the author For it seems that the succour she thought to receive of this man to get out of this misery would be a kind of obligation to love him and on the other side she could not endure to let her thoughts fix on a servile object She loves almost as much to remain a slave of body and free of this obligation as to see herself at liberty and tyed by the bonds of duty to a man she hated in her very soul So that if she could have found any other means to draw her from misery she would certainly have passed it rather then to make herself beholding to Roboald But necessity that savage and cruel mistress made her resolve after having consulted some time in herself to take this occasion by the lock
reserving after the recovering of her liberty the punishment of this madness even with the sword if there were occasion and to purge him by this means of his error and folly And as she was practised in the arts of love knowing well how to counterfeit the person of a Maid that is easie to be won Roboald imagines he may win her heart and make himself as well as Philippin possessor of her body He flatters her and speaks of love but in such generall terms that he left always place to some exception and made as if he sighed for an object absent but she sees well that it was her presence that drew these sighs from his breast Here are two cunning Gamesters that play who shall be cozened Roboald protests he would not entertain her with so ill discourse as that of his affections if they were not sincere and legitimate But it being the greatest comfort one can have in their sorrows to communicate them to a faithfull friend and he thinking she had felt for Philippin all the stings that this passion is accustomed to incite in their hearts that receive it Thy counsel can asswage my swelling grief And to my sufferings give me some relief It is true replied Isabel that I might give some sort of remedy to your wound if I knew the particularities but there is nothing more needfull to a singular evil then general remedy for according to the circumstances it changes ordinarily the face of the business Roboald besought her to excuse him that he could not declare to her the cause of his unquietness for fear to be held too presumptuous that would would plunge him rather into despair then any way bring him consolation esteeming it less worthy of healing then of blame Isabel whose eyes were so piercing as they saw into his darkest thoughts and into this breast covered with the cloud of dissimulation excused herself also to give remedy to an evil she was ignorant of and complains on the other side of the small confidence Roboald had in her draws him insensibly to discover his design just as when the birds are in love it is then they are taken with more ease for by the different notes they warble to one another they make themselves fall into the nets and pits finding the end of their lives where they thought to meet and enjoy their pleasures it will take Roboald even so who by an undiscreet love goes to twist a cord to strangle himself It is not without reason that the Antients heve painted Love naked by reason it can conceal not secret from the thing beloved Who knows not how the perfidie of Dalilah by the sweet violence of love drew out the secret of the strength of generous Sampson whom she brought afterwards to his fall and ruine You will understand in this history somthing like that for Roboald in imitation of Sampson after having given some fained excuses to Isabel desiring to make her believe that he loved the daughter of a Gentleman a neighbour there by without daâ—ing by any demonstration to make shew of his thoughts resolves rather to die an obscure death then to make known a design so presumptuous Isabel that saw well that her fained neighbour was meant by herself hiding a profound fury in the depth of her soul comforted Roboald the best she could as thus that being all-inflamed for and object of merit he should not be astonished if it rise high that it was a mark of the goodness of his courage in which he was more commendable for generosity then blameable for presumption and that although he were not born a Gentleman it was a title that rather depended on fortune then desert and that he was not the first of mean birth that had derâ—d to set his affections on a Gentlewoman that true nobility was in valour and in that he would not yield to whatsoever Gentleman and that she knew well that there was not any business in which he would not be led by Pyrrhe with as much affection as Herman himself would be for the antient servants in a house held the quality of children That the inequality of conditions should not disparage him that since she had dared to lift her thoughts even to Philippin that was her Lord to whom she ought homage he might well raise his to Gentlewoman and that a faithful Lover ought to promise himself all things happy since hope was the wings of love and that love equalized Lovers that Kings loving their subjects have submitted their scepters to their affections that according to her judgment there was not a more eminent greatness in love then love it self and the greatest amongst Lovers he that loves most Imagine if this discourse cast not oil into the fire of Roboald in a Country where Coblers make themselves Gentleman and the Gentleman Princes by an humour that Nation hath But when she added that if she knew that Gentlewoman and had but liberty to speak to her there was no sort of good offices she would not do for Roboald to favour his design honoring his passion in another subject whereby she would esteem herself honored It was now that this saucy Jailer touched the stars with his forehead promising to his presumption all that he had heretofore desired rather hoped Methinks I see the picture of the feeling of this soul swelled with vanity of his own desires well represented in the the rich Verses of one of the Mistresses of the Muses of our France Knowing my flame is aiery and divine I can love nothing but what Gods incline With courage I 'll pursue my enterprise And if I fall from heaven shall be my rise No more on Earth shall flourish my desires I higher will enhance my love and fires I 'll Eagle-like rather by thunder die Then from some â—ur receive my destinie While I do soar so high no rocks I fear Nothing shall make me cowardly retire That for a bridle which doth serve to some Shall unto me a golden spur become I love my aim although by Fortune crost The harder is the task the more I 'll boast Things easie to obtain have small desert Honours on hard designs use to revert Although this man had presumption enough to dare to love a person more high then his duty could permit him yet the same love that gave him courage to fix his affections so eminently for his condition took from him the daring to discover it retained by that respectful fear that ordinarily accompanies this passion fear that proceeds of the apprehension of despairing of the object beloved He seeks in the corners of his fancie some artificial invention to tell her that he durst not utter and to make her understand that he durst not speak But the more he troubles himself to meet with it the less he finds it the confusion of his thoughts being a Labyrinth from whence he cannot get out His desire is like quick silver the more he presses the less it is
there is nothing comes sooner to its end then a constant love For Love useth to exalt the mind and make The Lower lofty things to undertake The Body from the Soul receives its flame And Love 's the Torch that doth the Soul inflame Without then caring for these Funeral-predictions of this Sorcerer I desired him to give me a glass like to that wherein he had shewed me many wonders and in which I see when I please her whom I honour in the same fashion and place and in the same conversation that she shall be when I would look to see her as much to comfort my self by this false good of her image in absence which is the most cruel torment that a soul can suffer that loves as mine doth that is to say extremely as also to learn by her carriage if my perseverance may one day find some favour before her eyes though not obtained without much difficulty and with a thousand oaths not to communicate this secret to any You must therefore dispence with me courteous Isabel if I shew you not this glass for fear to be forsworn or it may be to take away the effect which is so sweet to me and the only consolation of my eyes if they should be deprived of the object that is most pleating to them For what do I know if the verity may not vanish at the same time that I should make another participant of this sight or if this may be disclosed without some misfortune or how shall I know that this Creature will have the belief that my extreme love hath given me for to see this face that is not better presented in this glass then in the affections of thy heart And then there are certain barbarous words written on the backside of it which must be pronounced before one can enjoy the sight of this spectacle And who can promise to a woman the courage to pronounce them without trembling and a secret horror All this might plead my excuse to you and should perswade you not to attempt so bold an enterprise Let me die by little and little secretly I am to my self a theatre ample enough it is glory enough to me to have aspired so high and to see that in falling it is from heaven I am precipitated Fearfulness is incident to women but we may say that their curiosity is far stronger then their apprehension for to satisfie this desire we know they renounce all fear Such appears Isabel for although a secret fear incited a panting of her heart on the imagination that some devil should do her hurt in being curious to penetrate into this secret yet shutting her eyes at these considerations she left not importuning Roboald shew her this glass assuring him she had courage enough to look into it and faith enough to pronounce the doubtfull words Now you must know that all this imaginary fortilâ—ge was but a pure invention of this man to shew to this Damosel the form of her proper face in this ordinary glass desiring to let her know by that that all the charms of his heart proceeded from the beauties of her form Now after many conjuâ—ations and so strong that there was no more place of resistance without angring the spirit of what shall I say curious or furious Isabel drawing out of his breast the glass of which the lustre reflected on eyes of this impatient Maid faining that it would have no effect if she were not alone and he to be retired A certain terror seises her fearing to be without help in the company of Devils the first which figures a thousand forms flying about her which made her earnestly conjure Roboald to stay or else to take again his glass for already cold fear began to seise her I doubted this replies this man that you would not have courage enough and if you want confidence how will you have belief enough But here I dispensed with all by your self that ought to content you with the testimony of my good will Isabel never saw herself in the like agony For on the one side pressed with the vehemencie of her desires and on the other retained by an extreme fear she sees herself like the Child in the Emblem raised by one wing and stayed by a stone A relenting stays her in midst of her course of this she had so ardently pursued Stay here a little says she O Roboald to the end that I may regain my spirits and have more assurance I cannot stay replied he and give you the satisfaction you desire in this glass Which he said to make her more eager to affirm his assurance and to escape not esteeming he could obtain so much of his own courage he shrinketh enough to sustain in her presence the discovery of his design They capitulated and agreed that Roboald should stay in the next chamber whilst Isabel pronounced the unknown words and looked in the glass and if any extraordinary terror seised her Roboald should come at her cry and give her all sort of assistance He goes out she takes the glass with one hand trembling where not seeing other but her face she feared it was for want of not having pronounced the words written on the back-side With a faint voice she tries to utter them and suddenly turns the glass and seeing but herself thinks she hath pronounced them imperfectly Being now more couragious she recites them neatly and cleerly distinguishes the syllables and letters But yet she sees nothing but her face She knows not what to thing but then perceives some Verses written round about the chafing of it that said thus This Glass presents the shape of her Perfection That is the Shrine of my most true affection This doth not yet satisfie her till she read on the circumference of the orb these same Could she but see my heart as pure and faithfull SY ABELLE As she sees herself beautifull For this Anagram was the little key that opened to her all this secret it was choler that unsealed her eyes to penetrate into the art of Roboald for that the last writing in form of numbers described her name But as there is no deafness worse then that is counterfeited so there is no stupidity more gross then that that is fained not to understand that she knows very well She calls Roboald but with a tone and voice that had no feeling of haste or astonishment and gives him his glass Go go said she all your Devils are lyars which give nothing but elusions for truth I have spoken the barbarous words with as much attention as was possible and yet I have seen nothing in this glass but that I see in that comes next to my hands and then you add belief to this sorcery Madam replied Roboald and it may be it is want of belief that makes you fail of that you seek for and you had without doubt perceived it if you had as much faith as I have to see the fair effect of so